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Western Civilization-Ancient History
Part II
Section I
Women's Rights
--Sparta
Ironically, Spartan women had many privileges and considerable rights.
There are a couple of reasons for this. First, Spartan men were,
from an early age, warriors and were subject to being away from
the family for long periods of time, thus leaving the household
in the woman's care. Women were able to own land, make important
decisions, exercise nude, compete in athletic events, and do many
other things that were usually reserved for men. Another main reason
for their unusual freedom was the respect they received because
they were able to bear children. This alone was enough to give them
considerable rights because of the high value placed on heirs, namely
male heirs. Women in Sparta were not only afforded these rights,
but many were also literate, involving themselves in intellectual
pursuits. This makes sense when we compare Spartan women with the
women during our own WWII. While the men were away, the women were
forced to take on the jobs that would normally never have been given
them. However, these privileges lasted longer for Spartan women
since the warrior life of the Spartan male began at an early age
and ended late. These rights were nearly the direct opposite of
those given to women in Athens during the same period.
--Athens
While Spartan women had rights due to the absence of Spartan males,
Athenian women were denied even the most basic rights. They were
expected to stay at home although the exception to this rule was
during religions festivals when women were permitted to venture
into society. Women took care of every aspect of running a household,
much the same way women in other cultures have been, including raising
children, educating girls, cooking, weaving, making clothes, fetching
water, keeping the house clean, etc. In essence, women were condemned
to live a secluded life at home bearing children and providing food
and other necessities to their husbands. Despite the "forward
thinking" of the Athenians, life was almost assuredly easier
and happier for women in Sparta although the loss of the men in
their lives would have been hard to handle for someone who wasn't
brought up to accept that as a way of life.
Culture--Literature, Poetry, and Art
--Sparta
While Sparta wasn't exactly known for its cultural development,
it did bring forth a few contributions. Not surprisingly, the main
focus of Spartan poetry was war and the glory of being a warrior
followed closely by nature and the beauty surrounding the Spartan
people. Art, too, depicted war scenes and successes and glorified
the warriors as heroes of Sparta.
--Athens
What Sparta was lacking, Athens made up for tenfold. Architecture,
art, poetry, music, drama, philosophy, and science were all abundant
in Athenian society. Athenian architecture was a drastic change
from previous types of buildings and continued to evolve through
time. One of the most well-known buildings in the world were built
in Athens, that being the Parthenon. Other accomplishments include
the temple of Athena Nike and the theatre of Dionysus. Athenians
devoted much money to the building of temples to worship their gods
as well as to public buildings where governmental meetings would
be held and religious ceremonies would be celebrated.
Drama, both tragedy and comedy, were also perfected by the Athenians.
Playwrights such as Sophocles, Aeschylus, and Euripides wrote tragedies
that dealt with every-day, yet perhaps made more dramatic, aspects
of life such as the decision between good and evil, governmental
affairs, the family, and human nature. Later, comedies were developed
and often poked fun at government officials or policies as well
as philosophers.
Yet one other arena Athenians made leaps in is art and sculpture.
We begin to see figures evolve from the flat, stiff 2-dimensional
beings we saw in Egypt. Now, we were seeing figures in more natural
poses as well as a focus on what Athenians considered to be ideal
beauty. In later years, however, this movement would change and
the concentration of artists would move towards realistic portrayals
of everyday people they saw in marketplaces and engaging in normal
activities.
Society
--Sparta
Spartan society was by no means pleasant. Because of the Messenian
wars and the near-loss of Sparta, officials became paranoid to the
point of turning Sparta into what has been called a "military
camp." Much like other Greek societies, Spartans devoted themselves
to celebration and support of their city. However, the main difference
between Sparta and other cities is the "duties" each person
was required to perform. Children, if not born healthy, were deemed
unfit to live and were cast out into the countryside to die. This
was especially true of males since they would become the future
Spartan warriors and needed to be their healthiest in order to do
battle. At an early age of around 7 years old, male children were
taken from their families to be trained as warriors in schools that
would, today, be the equivalent of our Navy Seals. While males were
able to marry after a certain age, they were not allowed to live
with their wife until the age of 30. Military service didn't end
until the age of 60. In a way, the life of a Spartan wasn't unlike
that of a monk, save for the military service. They lived simple
lives without many material possessions and without much time to
dedicate to leisure activities.
--Athens
Athenian society, in contrast to that of Sparta, was much more relaxed.
Even slaves had more rights than were usual at the time. In certain
instances, such as those who worked in construction, they were even
paid a wage for their work. Men were the only ones involved in public
life as well as government and even male slaves were excluded from
these areas. Families were much the same as they are today, consisting
of a husband, wife, and children. Family life was very important
as its primary role was to produce offspring who would become citizens
of Athens and only children of married parents who were both citizens
could become citizens. Relationships between older men and younger
males was also common and homosexual behavior was widely accepted,
although this was mostly practiced by the upper classes. These relationships
were both physical and educational and the older male acted as a
"mentor" of sorts to the younger male.
Government
--Sparta
It is not surprising that Sparta had a very stable and well-planned
out government. While it wasn't a true democracy, the paranoia and
distrust Spartans felt for outsiders led them to develop a government
that met their needs. This government was a complex hierarchy and
at the top were just 5 men called the Ephorate. These men had power
over virtually all other parts of the government including, if they
had "divine" reason, the king. Under these men was the
council, consisting of 30 men (2 kings and 28 nobles under the kings),
all of whom were finished with their military careers-- i.e. Over
60. This council was elected by a group of Spartan males over 30,
and this is where the small part of democracy steps into play. This
tightly bound form of government was necessary, in the Spartan's
mind, because of the severe amount of distrust that resulted from
the Helot revolts the Spartans felt were serious threats.
--Early Athens
Even though Sparta had a shred of democracy in its government and
early Athens had a more "democratic" government, there
were similarities between both of them. Athens had never faced destruction
from an invader like the Messenians, so they never developed a fear
of the "outsider" like Sparta did. Thus, since the Athenians
weren't paranoid like the Spartans, their form of government took
on a more relaxed approach. The king was eventually replaced with
an elected body called the Archons who ran the state and the council
who elected them, the Areopagus. However, since the Archons decisions
were subject to the approval of the Areopagus as well as the Archons
were elected by the Areopagus, this council had the real control
and not the appointed Archons. In these different hierarchies, there
runs a similarity to the Spartan government even if it's a small
one.
--Athenian Democracy
A major deficiency in the management of crops and land helped cause
a dramatic decrease in the price and production of wheat. While
the nobles were getting wealthy off of oil and wine, the lowly farmers
were getting deeper and deeper into debt. Lands were not allowed
to lie fallow and Athens began importing wheat at the same time
the production of it began to plummet. Soon, the farmers were selling
their families and themselves into slavery in order to pay for their
debts. This problem was exacerbated by the increasing wealth of
the governmental officials and the gap continued to widen. The stage
was set for a revolt led by the farmers. In trying to prevent this
situation, the wealthy officials decided to hand power over to Solon,
who immediately dismissed all debts. Entering into slavery as a
means to pay debts were outlawed and some of the people who had
been enslaved because of this reason were brought out of slavery.
With these changes also came drastic alterations to the main government
of Athens. The people were divided up into four classes based on
their level of wealth. In turn, the two highest classes made up
the Areopagus and the third class was allowed to vote 400 people,
100 from each of the original four tribes of Greece into which this
class was divided, to a council who would provide a check and balance
system to make sure that the Areopagus didn't have too much control.
Even the lowest class, the peasants, were involved in this governmental
system. They were allowed to be members of an assembly who would
vote on laws presented to them by the council. Soon, their power
extended to that of the court where they would hear both military
and civil cases.
In later developments, Athenian government would evolve even more
towards the democracy we know today. A council was made up of citizens
over 30 years of age who were drawn each year by lot. All free men
would be on an assembly that could veto any laws the council brought
forth as well as being the only member of the government that could
declare war. As a final protection from one person gaining power,
ostracism was implemented after many years. This meant that citizens
whom the assembly thought might be getting too powerful. While still
very different from our own government, Athenian democracy played
a definitive role in the evolution of democracy.
Conclusion
Even though Sparta and Athens were both Greek city-states, they
varied widely in their practices. Art, philosophy, and creativity
were the norms in Athenian society although women had considerably
less rights than they did in Sparta. Military training and heroism
were celebrated as an important part of the Spartan male ideal.
While there were similarities in the hierarchies of early Athenian
and Spartan governments, soon, Athens would adopt a much more democratic
and "equal" form of governing the people. Today, when
people think of the Spartan military machine, they picture a near
Nazi-esque type of forced servitude, however I would suspect that
the people of Sparta took great pride in being such a powerful empire.
As was evident in the actions of the women who lost husbands and
sons to war, it was a great honor to die in battle. In contrast,
we picture Athens as a colorful and vibrant city with masses of
cultural and artistic settings and objects. The irony of these images
is that for women, it was often the opposite. In the rigid Spartan
lifestyle, women had much more freedom than they did in Athens which
was much more relaxed.
Section II
The Development of the Rational Mind
Geography and Agriculture
No one knows for sure just what caused the Greeks to begin the quest
to understand their surroundings. There is no doubt that geography
is a major contributing factor. While the Egyptians were largely
subject to the ebb and flow of the Nile and much of their religion,
and therefore their way of life, was developed from this idea. They
attributed floods or droughts to the will of the Gods and thus,
spent a large part of their time trying to appease them. However,
the Greeks were different. They were surrounded by mountainous regions
that prevented mass growing of crops other than plants and trees
that could grow on the hillsides. They had no cyclical forms of
disaster that they could focus on and attribute to the Gods. Also
because of the mountainous regions in which they lived, they became
separated from one another thus, developing very different ways
of life. Too, their land was relatively limited in size and they
formed small cities as a result. A desire for expansion coupled
with great pride in one's home town translated into warring between
these cities as well as an even stronger sense of belonging among
individual civilians within their own group. It's no surprise that
these individuals eventually developed a unique way of looking at
the world that was drastically different from those who came before.
A Brief Word on Trade
Because of the fact that the Greeks didn't have much farming land,
they had to import much of their products. However, they were able
to produce a few commodities themselves that weren't available in
most other places: grape vines for their fruit and, more importantly,
wine and olive trees for olive oil and, to a lesser extent, cured
olives. Olive oil was the ultimate in exportable products because
it didn't perish easily. Olive oil was being used in many other
countries, but wasn't being produced very much outside of Greece.
Their climate lended itself to the production of olive trees so
much that they became known for their olive oil. Wine, too, was
a commodity, but was not as well known as olive oil mainly because
it was being produced in other areas and therefore, was not as "hot"
an item.
Because of this trade between the Greeks and other cultures, even
though it's not cited as a reason in most texts, I believe the Greeks
were able to trade ideas with other cultures that may have contributed
to their "enlightened" thought. While other cultures were
trading, they were mostly importing items, not exporting them. The
Greeks would have been exporting olive oil to many other countries.
The difference lies in the exposure they got to other ideas and
ways of life because they were venturing into other lands and being
immersed in them, not sitting idle in their own home city waiting
for traders to come and deliver goods. So in their travels, no matter
how subtle the exchange and absorption was, some ideas had to have
mingled and been subconsciously adopted into the psyches of the
Greek traders to be brought back to their homeland. Even if these
acts weren't the sole reason, they no doubt added something to the
development of free though and other ideas.
Political Development
Because of the way Greek cities developed, each one had their own
policies, each one independent of the other in thought and practice.
The main differences between the Greeks and everyone else was in
how their political systems evolved. While the Egyptians regarded
their kings as divine in nature, the Greeks began to form what would
eventually become democratic societies. This enabled them to develop
a much more independent way of thinking because they didn't feel
governed by the Gods as much as Egyptians did. This belief would
also enable them to overthrow their own leaders as the tyrants did
when they were not happy with the way things were being run. All
these things lead to an independent way of viewing the world and
thus, questions begin to be asked.
Gods
While the Greeks did have their Gods and they were important to
them, they didn't live in the same kind of fear or servitude as
the Egyptians did. The Greeks did feel that good things would happen
if they pleased the Gods, however, I don't think they lived in an
unquestioning world as the people who came before them did. Perhaps
more important, however, was that the Greeks somehow leapt past
viewing themselves as being at the mercy of their Gods and thus,
were able to move beyond concentrating on appeasing the Gods' wishes
and into the realm of reasoning. While the Egyptians attributed
the rising of the sun, the annual flooding of the Nile, and other
natural occurrences to their Gods, the Greeks asked why these things
happened and began philosophizing about them. Nature was a prime
subject to be understood by the Greeks and somewhere, someone began
trying to master the environment through understanding it instead
of merely attributing it to the will of the Gods. Most Greeks did
still believe the Gods were responsible for acts of nature, but
the important thing here is that SOME Greeks crawled out of that
darkness of thought and into the light of reason. Clearly, many
stories about the Gods were borrowed from surrounding regions and
probably mostly from Egypt.
The Big Deal with Greek Philosophy
For the first time in Western history, people were beginning to
question their surroundings, to hypothesize about why things happened,
and to try and rationalize the natural environment. Up until this
point, people merely led their lives without wondering why, but
were content with the explanation that the Gods were responsible.
Early Greek philosophers were interested in knowing more. No doubt
this was, in part, because they wanted to know how better to control
their lives. Ultimately, it is the natural evolution of mankind
to ask questions because control is so important to human beings.
Under the right circumstances, when allowed to question, philosophy,
wonder, and the pursuit of truth will be fostered. It was only a
matter of timing and the right environment.
A big reason why Greek philosophy is so important isn't how it
got started, rather, it's because of where it led down the road.
Western thought, mathematics, physics, and other areas of study
all originated in Greece and that is enough to make it one of the
most important developments in history. Without Greek thought, we
may not be where we are today, whether it be for good or bad.
An important point to make regarding consciousness and the Greek
mind is that the Greeks weren't just pondering things, but that
they set out to ponder things. The difference here is in the intent
rather than the action itself. It is certain that people before
the Greeks had thought of different ideas and ways of doing things,
but until this time, the act of pondering wasn't a state to obtain.
To say they thought of thinking is to say that they concentrated
their efforts on the act of thinking about their surroundings, it
didn't just happen. What may have started out as an accidental observation
turned into a series of thoughts made by many philosophers. While
their ideas were markedly different in many ways, the fact remains
that they THOUGHT rather than just lived their lives according to
what they were told. Thus, the birth of the rational mind occurred
within Greek society.
The Philosophers and Their Borrowed? Ideas
One of the most amazing things about Greek philosophers was how
seemingly advanced they were considering the societies that came
before them. When one reads about ideas brought forth by people
like Heraclitus, Empedocles, The Pythagoreans, Aristotle, Anaxoragus,
and Plato, they can see ideas that are mirrored in other societies
both prior and future. Some beliefs are similar to this in Buddhism
which, originating before the advent of Greek philosophy, could
have been a contributing factor. However, I am not sure if this
is realistic considering the distance between India and Greece.
Gradually, I suppose, some of the ideas could have made their way
over to the Mediterranean. Other religions, like Zoroastrianism
and Judaism may have played parts in the development of Greek philosophy
because we see vague similarities between them, but I don't think
anyone can say for certain that they did. It is possible that the
Greeks, especially the ones in Athens, developed free thought all
on their own. However, this is unlikely that by some chance, a group
of people would leap beyond everyone else no matter how different
their society was. Often, groups of people are given credit for
coming up with this incredible new way of thinking, yet when we
look deeper into history, we find out that even they copied ideas.
Anaximander's idea of a fifth element, what I consider to be the
"spirit" and he calls the apeiron; the Pythagoreans' believe
in reincarnation of the soul; and Heraclitus's idea of the harmony
between opposites like light and dark, day and night, right and
left, good and bad, which mirrors the Buddhist's idea of the Yin/Yang.
All of these ideas are clearly illustrated in Buddhism and could
be borrowed or could have developed independently, but there is
no denying that the similarities are there.
Conclusion
While we see both differences and similarities between Greek thought
and what came before, we cannot completely take credit away from
the Greeks for their developments and contributions to Western philosophy.
Undeniably, they played a major part in sparking science and philosophy
and shaping future ideas and religions. We may never know just what
brought about this great change in the human mind, but I am not
sure that is the most important thing here. Greek philosophy played
a huge part in the development of the world we currently know and
I feel the focus here should be on looking at just why their ideas
made such an impact on our society. Other ideas have developed over
time, but for some reason, Greek philosophy sticks with us. Perhaps
it is just a subtle but unique way our world and people evolved
before and after the Greeks that lends us to define ourselves the
way we do, but something in Greek philosophy spoke to those who
came after and thus, passed down their legacy.
Section III
Question: Why are the Greeks so well known for their scientific
achievements? In what areas did they concentrate? How were they
different from civilizations who came before them or were they?
Answer:
The Inquisitive Mind
While the Greeks weren't the first civilization to question their
surroundings, they were the first to take such an active role in
understanding it. Prior to them, we have the Egyptians who wanted
to understand life, death, and nature, but did so in a more spiritual
way rather than with a rational mind. We see explanations for floods,
famines, and sickness that are attributed to the Gods rather than
to plain old science. Other civilizations as well, failed to look
at things in an objective manner. For numerous reasons, the Greeks,
however, were different. Their quest to understand nature led them
to take a philosophical and rational approach to understanding their
world. This is not to say all Greeks took this approach and there
was still a great deal of irrational thought. Gods were still held
in high esteem and were worshipped by most people. In fact, the
one of the main reasons Athens was so great was because of the way
the people paid homage to the Gods. But in any even, rational thought
did enter the picture with the Greek philosophers who also studied
math, astronomy, physics (that was even called the philosophy of
nature), and medicine.
Mathematics
When one views the history of math, there is no denying the Greeks
were the first major contributors to the subject. While there may
have been ideas floating around before, the Greek philosophers took
on the subject of mathematics and gave much to it. The most well-known
mathematicians during this time were the Pythagoreans, Plato, and
Euclid, although homage needs to be paid to Thales, Aristotle, and
Aristarchus, all who contributed to mathematics, and much to astronomy
or other sciences.
The Pythagoreans
Even though we're not sure exactly who came up with the Pythagorean
theorem since the Pythagorus never produced any of his own works.
The theorem is credited to him because the group it came from bears
his name, however, Pythagorus was definitely a forefather of mathematics
and philosophy. Contrary to popular belief, Pythagorus didn't come
up with the theorem on his own, he was just the first to prove it.
But as proof of a theorem is all-important in the world of mathematics,
he is considered the founder of the theorem.
Plato
When people think of Plato, they usually think of Philosophy. But
what is mathematics? It is merely a type of scientific philosophy
of equations and rules tied in with other sciences that govern our
world. While Plato himself never contributed much to the study of
math, he formed a school whose members would ultimately solve many
of the riddles that plagued the Greek thinkers. For this, Plato
gets credit for influencing mathematics from a remote point. Without
his school, theorems or ideas may have taken much longer to be solved.
Euclid
Now we come to the person most well-known in math out of all of
the Greek mathematicians, Euclid. Studying under the pupils at Plato's
school in Athens, Euclid amassed a great knowledge of math. While
Euclid did not come up with anything of great importance, what he
is famous for is organizing all the theorems, ideas, and mathematical
laws that preceded him. The geometry we study today is a brief testament
to Euclid in that most texts only include a fraction of what Euclid
combined in his texts called The Elements. Because of this, Euclid
is given partial credit for the spread of geometry into other countries.
Astronomy
The Greeks were also fascinated with the cosmos, as we still are
today. Some of their ideas were profound due to the fact that it
took hundreds of years to finally convince the rest of the world
that they were true and others were complete duds. Of the ones who
were correct, Aristarchus has got the vote for being the most foresighted.
He believed in the heliocentric model of our solar system stating
that the sun is in the middle and the planets, including earth,
revolve around it. This is an idea that would result in executions
in later centuries mainly because people, namely the church, believed
the earth was the center of the universe. While Anaxoragus believed
the earth was flat, he did, however, believe that the sun was not
a God as most people did, but believed it was a hot stone, which
we all know is not correct. He was correct, though, in his belief
that the moon did not shine on its own, but reflected the sun's
light and that eclipses were caused by the earth's shadow.
Medicine
When one thinks about medicine, perhaps the name that comes to mind
is Hippocrates, after all, the hippocratic oath is the one doctors
take when they become medical doctors. There were two schools of
thought in ancient Greece. One was led by Asclepios, whose followers
believed in supernatural causes for illness and disease as well
as for cures that would heal them. On the contrary, Hippocrates
and his followers believed in natural causes for death and disease
and used a rational approach to diagnosing and treating people.
In their need to immortalize their heroes, the Greeks eventually
turned Asclepios into the God of healing. Even his family was revered
for their supernatural healing powers, especially his daughter who
gives her name to the word "hygiene." While Asclepios
didn't contribute much to the actual practice of medicine, we still
see his symbol today in the serpent wrapped around the staff used
as a symbol of healing. Hippocrates, the "father of medicine,"
practiced around 400 BC on the island of Cos where he eventually
founded a medical school. The big thing about Hippocrates was that
he refused to go along with the idea that the Gods were responsible
for illness. Instead, he used observation to determine what was
wrong with a patient. While his ideas would eventually be proven
wrong, the mere fact that he thought about reasons for illness rather
than attributing them to the Gods is reason enough to pay him homage.
He also introduced the idea of ethics into medicine and required
his students to swear an oath, part of which includes patient confidentiality.
Conclusion
In many ways, the Greeks were much like their predecessors. However,
they made leaps and bounds in the fields of philosophy and sciences
of all kinds, which they felt were a kind of philosophy in their
own rite. Many of their ideas were wrong, however, I think the most
important thing here isn't that they were right or not, it was that
they were pondering and rationalizing their environment rather than
merely giving in to the myths passed down to them. Many Greeks,
especially peasants, still believed in the Gods and all of their
mythology, and as is mirrored in future times such as the Renaissance,
we see that the majority of the people who are doing the thinking
are the wealthy citizens of a country. If the Greeks did borrow
ideas from other cultures, which they probably did on some level,
they were still the ones who passed them down to us. We may never
have come as far as we have if it had not been for the Greeks. Then
again, we may have come farther if the great library of Alexandria
hadn't burned destroying much of what the Greeks and other civilizations
had discovered.
By Lissa
Copyright 2001
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